The TikTok Shop: a revolution in e-commerce

After Instagram Shopping, TikTok is now also launching in-app sales for Creator. TikTok, the popular social platform for short videos, is planning to launch the TikTok Shop, which has already successfuly launched in other countries and is expected to be available in Germany next quarter. This launch promises to revolutionize the shopping experience on TikTok and opens up exciting opportunities for businesses and content creators.

TikTok? Brand new? Very briefly explained

TikTok is a popular social media platform characterized by short, entertaining videos. Users create and share videos that typically last between 15 seconds and one minute. The app offers a wide range of filters, effects and music that allow users to create creative and viral content. TikTok has built up a large user base in a short space of time and offers companies the opportunity to reach and engage their target audience in innovative ways.

The new store! TikTok introduces

The TikTok Shop will offer a wide range of features, including the ability to buy products from creators and brands directly via the app. What makes it special is the “buy with one click” option, which simplifies the entire purchase process and increases conversion rates. This means that users will be able to instantly purchase products they see in TikTok videos without having to leave the app.

The main highlights of TikTok’s new store system are:

Authentic shopping experience – advantage #1

TikTok Shop offers an authentic and relatable shopping experience that inspires and leads to purchases through entertainment and commerce.

Trusted Creator – Advantage #2

Creators play a critical role in building trust and influence for brands through authentic content on TikTok Shop.

Engaged communities – advantage #3

TikTok communities drive discovery and influence culture, allowing brands to build lasting relationships with users by leveraging these existing communities.

Simple and secure purchasing – advantage #4

TikTok Shop revolutionizes the shopping process by providing secure checkout, order management and in-app support.

Scalable ecosystems – advantage #5

TikTok Shop offers support for businesses of all sizes, from logistics to aftercare, and provides the tools needed to grow.

Native purchasing methods – advantage #6

TikTok Shop offers three native ways to shop: Live shopping, shoppable videos and product showcasing. This allows retailers and creators to present and sell products directly in the app.

Performance analysis – Advantage #7

TikTok Shop offers data dashboards to track performance, traffic, customer ratings and transaction data.

Affiliate program – Advantage #8

TikTok Shop’s affiliate program allows creators to monetize their content and collaborate with sellers on TikTok, opening up new earning opportunities.

Advantages for companies and creators

The introduction of the TikTok Shop will offer companies and content creators numerous advantages. Firstly, they can present their products to a wider audience and significantly increase their reach. The direct integration of the store into the TikTok platform will strengthen the bond with the TikTok community and make the sales process much easier. The ability to make quick purchases within the app makes shopping via TikTok extremely attractive to the target group.

Create TikTok Shop

Create a TikTok store – In this article, you will learn how to efficiently set up a TikTok store and use it for your business. You will be guided through the various steps, starting with opening a seller account on TikTok, adding and managing your products in the store and linking your store to your TikTok profile. You will also gain valuable insights into the functionalities of the TikTok store, such as tagging products in your videos and using TikTok ads to increase sales.

• Create TikTok Shop

Security in the TikTok Shop

An important aspect of the TikTok Shop is the security of payment transactions. TikTok has placed the highest priority on this and uses common encryption technologies to ensure the confidentiality of user data and the security of payments. In addition, TikTok offers well-known payment methods to provide users with a secure shopping experience.

How companies and creators can use the TikTok Shop

Using the TikTok Shop as a marketing tool opens up exciting opportunities for companies and content creators. Products can be presented creatively via videos, which attracts the attention of users. Authentic and appealing videos are particularly successful. The simple redirection to the product within the app simplifies the sales process considerably and creates a win-win situation for companies and consumers.

Conclusion: TikTok Shop

The TikTok Shop promises to revolutionize the shopping experience on TikTok and opens up exciting marketing opportunities for businesses and content creators. With a clear product marketing strategy and high-quality content, they can be successful right from the start and make the most of the advantages of the TikTok Shop. It is worth preparing for the launch of the TikTok Shop in good time to take advantage of the first mover advantage and benefit from the opportunities of this emerging marketing platform.

Questions, ads or advice?

• TikTok Agency

What is an email / sales funnel?

With our agency you have the right sparring partner for your ideas. Success at work, happiness in life, dating, relationship, nutrition or even solar systems, house construction and real estate investment – the variety of topics is large.

First of all, the great advantage of an email funnel: automated emails

Especially for coachings, trainings, advanced trainings, which take place digitally, but also for live events, email funnels can be used excellently to turn prospects into buyers. Not only buyers, through further strategies like cross-selling and up-selling, similar products can be sold (cross) and higher priced products (up).

The second major advantage of an email funnel is that once a user has registered with their contact details(opt-in), you can send them information again and again. Automated, segmented and personalized, of course.

Email Funnel Guide: Here’s what you learn

This guide will help you:

• Understanding email marketing
• Understand the email funnel structure
• Examples of automated emails
• Sales of digital products and events

In few sales areas, we can virtually promise success, but in email marketing, especially for coaches, we have first-class references. Not only once, our clients and ourselves were surprised by the results of individual email marketing campaigns. Let’s start with the basics:

Funnel = “optimized sales funnel

An email funnel is an optimized “sales funnel” into which leads (i.e. qualified traffic via social ads or Google Ads, for example) are initiated. Leads can be collected via various sources:

• Internal, for example own website
• External, leads from third parties (such as affiliate partners)

Funnel means that users are first collected with little information, e.g. only their email address, so that the barrier to entry is as low as possible. Through segmentation and personalization, they get to know each individual user (data based) better and better and can accordingly design the offers more and more precisely. You will get to know exactly how this works in a moment!

Infographic: How the funnel works

The “sales funnel”:

• Funnel = funnel
• Traffic = Incoming visitors
• Leads = Successful entries (Opt-In)
• Touchpoints = Individual emails
• Sales = closing or product sale

Advantage Funnel: Direct, automated and personalized

Many people think that email marketing no longer brings the success it once did. But email marketing today is just as effective, even more effective, than ever before, thanks to data tracking.

Click tracking, opening rate: who does what?

Tracking and user data – Especially through technical enhancements, new functions and data analysis (who is doing what), a lot of details can be evaluated nowadays, of which one had no knowledge before. A simple example: Is a link, in a sent e-mail a) clicked or b) not? Every click is registered and the data stored.

The more data they collect about the individual user, the better!

Depending on the action, the email funnel can adapt.

• Email opened with topic X?
• Link to topic X clicked?
• …

10,000 + leads and all automated

No matter if you have 10 leads in your “newsletter list”, 100 leads, 1.000 or even 10.000 leads, the work will not be more, because you work with automated emails. Through the analytics, e.g. click tracking, as just learned, different target groups can be segmented and the address, or even the coaching products offered, increasingly personalized.

Immediately on smartphone and notebook

Emails reach your users directly on their smartphone, tablet or notebook.

This makes email marketing so immediate, who blocks push notifications from their email program on their cell phone? This in turn ensures that the return on investment (ROI) is above average compared to other online marketing measures. This is also shown by our various cases and references in email marketing, for coaches and digital products.

Tip! You don’t want to wait long, but gain more customers directly? Get in touch with our contact persons:

• Contact

Advantages at a glance: 5 convincing facts

Let’s recap your email marketing advantages:

1. Automated: Email marketing
2. Relevant: Segmentation
3. Personal: Personalization
4. Direct: Newsletters are direct
5. Particularly high ROI

And this is how it works:

Create email funnel: Basics

You’ve now learned a lot about how to use email funnels and email marketing as a coach for your digital products and events.

Whether high pricing or low budget for the masses. In the following, we would like to show you schematically how such an email funnel works, with its automated emails and processes.

How does a funnel work? The email “machine

As soon as users have registered in your email funnel(opt-in), the “machine” starts. For example, by immediately sending the person a welcome email, perhaps even with a link to a small survey! In the survey, the first segmentation takes place, for example based on areas of interest, so that our user really only gets the messages he or she is interested in!

Right from the beginning, this starts the process of automated emails.

From opt-in to personalization:

1. Double Opt-In -> Data Protection Compliant
2. Survey -> Segmentation
3. Start -> Automated emails
4. Personalization -> Tracking and analysis

Infographic: Email Funnel + AIDA Model

How do you get leads to become customers?

A method goes according to the AIDA model that goes from 1) attention to 2) interest. After that, 3) interest is aroused / desire is awakened and the lead executes 4) the conclusion and / or purchase.

The next step is to move on to up-sells and cross-sells (more on this later).

AIDA model in the email funnel:

Segmentation: After the opt-in

Opt-in means “to enter”. Already in this first step the segmentation of the user can take place.

For example, through the aforementioned links placed within an email and tracked through tracking methods. Another example was the survey tool just mentioned, with which you can get segmentation information directly after registration, such as interests or goals.

Query even more data? That makes sense for your coaching prospects (leads)! Because this way they only get information on the topics that really interest them.

• Segmentation through link tracking
• Segmentation through email open tracking
• Segmentation through survey tool
• …

The goal:

• Does user X like topic Y – yes / no?
• If so, more input on topic Y
• If not, no input on topic Y

Automated emails: pre-planned content and timeframes

After that, you start sending your automated emails. With the first welcome email, but also with all the other prepared emails that are sent again and again in the same rhythm to new leads in the funnel.

The paths of the individual users, the so-called “customer journey,” is planned in advance.

This methodology of automated emails is also great for scaling your coaching products. After you create your email funnel, as described, it doesn’t matter to you if 1 lead has signed up, 100 or 10,000 leads. the path is always the same and leads from your first welcome email to the coaching product (see: infographic sales funnel).

Tips! Later, 3 more example and strategies for automated emails.

Personalization: Segmentation through touchpoints

How an email funnel is personalized little by little, step by step, you have already learned in the course of the article, in segmentation.

This personalization is extremely important, because with each new piece of information, you can go new ways with the individual user. Therefore, such a newsletter funnel does not “only” consist of 20 always the same emails, but of an extensive planning, which takes into account all ways and possibilities. So user X doesn’t like product A, but is perhaps interested in product B. Every single email provides another, so-called “touchpoint”, where you can collect data on the lead.

Practical example: Real estate coaching.

A customer in the field of real estate marketing, has different groups of interested parties. There are so-called 1) “owner-occupiers”, i.e. those who are looking for their dream house, there are 2) “capital investors” who would like to rent out a property but have little equity capital, yet others 3) have inherited and have quickly come into the possession of a lot of money and so on. Depending on this, the approach differs! So if our client knows analysis and reporting, in which status or living environment a person is, emails can be adapted more and more precisely.

The more precisely the approach, the content and also the products offered match a person and their wishes, the higher the chance of closing a sale.

Personalized emails:

Sales: Sell more with cross-sell and up-sell

You also collect information through deals, such as sales.

Users were willing to spend money on a specific coaching topic. No matter whether it was an entry-level product, for example in the form of a PDF or a webinar. A coaching for advanced users, for example in a longer online coaching or even the high-price ticket at live events. The question: What else could interest your buyer? The segmentation and personalization process continues.

Because after the sale, the cross-sell and up-sell begins.

• Sales information flows into personalization
• Cross-sell (similar) begins
• Up-sell (high price) begins

Cross-sell – Cross-selling is the selling of related or complementary products or services based on the products the customer has already purchased (or in which he or she is interested).

Up-sell – Up-selling is the additional offering of higher value products or higher value services.

Extra tip: Sales abort in the shopping cart, what to do?

Reactivation is the magic word when it comes to sales dropouts.

Customers often decide to buy a product, but then abandon it shortly before payment. If they can store, analyze and evaluate such information, it’s worth its weight in gold! After all, a user was already close to buying a product.

We focus on such sales cancellations in particular, since we also serve customers as an e-commerce agency. Let’s say the shopping cart abandonment rate is 12% and can be reduced by 7% by reactivating customers because the email address has already been deposited. This would have a significant effect on direct sales and also on further cross-selling and up-selling products.

Conclusion: Email Funnel for Coaching

We hope that we could bring you closer to the strategies of our agency!

Thus, we attract new customers by actively placingads (Social Ads, Google Ads, Native Ads but also organic SEO), thereby winning Leeds for your funnel and converting them into customers through automated and increasingly personalized emails. Through additional up-sells and cross-sells, the sales, in addition to the actual coaching product, are further increased.

That’s why so many of the great coaches rely on email funnels for lead generation, customer generation, and additional product sales.

Last but not least, we’d like to share three ways you can target key, overarching customer groups through automated emails.

Prospects, new customers and inactive customers

You have already learned a lot about email funnel marketing. Here we would like to show you once again three automated paths, from leads to new customers who have purchased the first product and just met inactive customers who have not yet purchased a second product or have abandoned in the shopping cart. Hot Leads!

1. Interested parties (new leads)
2. New customers (just purchased)
3. Inactive customers (win back)

Automated emails for customer groups, 3 strategies presented:

• 3 Email Funnel Strategies

Cases and references: Agency Services

Do you like the potential of email marketing for coaching, e-learning and coaching events? Then we look forward to receiving your e-mail or your call.

Tip. We design your coaching product

You want a product that really sells?

Whether it’s personality, healing, design thinking, leadership 2.0 for executives or any other area, we work with our clients to develop coaching products that sell! Especially when it comes to the product line, meaning not only the actual core product, but also the entire up-sells around a product, planning is extremely important. Often a coaching product is thought of, but not the entire world around it, especially with higher priced products that can be sold afterwards.

With our agency you have the right sparring partner for your ideas.

Contact and contact person

Here you can find our contact persons and email marketing experts.

• Contact

A look inside our monitoring center:

Learn to install (FTP, MySQL) – Part 1/5

Part 1/10 – Learn about WordPress setup and how to set up a WordPress system fresh yourself in 3 steps.

Tip: Want to learn even more about WordPress? Visit the Lukinski Masterclass!

First of all, you need 1) an FTP user to upload your WordPress files and 2) a database (MySQL) for the content (posts, authors, etc.) that WordPress will access later and 3) the data upload, preferably with a tool like FileZilla (free). Here you can see all steps in detail, article: Install WordPress.

You”ll learn in Part 1:

1. Installation
2. FTP
3. Data upload
4. MySQL

Key links:

• WordPress (free CMS)
• FileZilla (free FTP tool)

German tutorial

Setup in 5:08 minutes – part 2/5

Part 2/10 – Learn the most important steps you need to know when setting up WordPress. This is all about the basics, a simple, fast loading site with no frills! With 6 steps, you’ll have your WordPress set up. First, set 1) the permalinks, your URL structure, followed by the 2) page title and the creation of 3) home page and 4) blog page. Finally, your 5) logo and your 6) main menu. Your website is already set up.

You”ll learn in Part 2:

1. Settings
2. Permalinks
3. Page title
4. Home page
5. Blog
6. Logo
7. Main menu

Install Theme (Upload, Activation) – Part 3/5

Part 3/10 – In this video you will learn the basic skills to install your own WordPress themes. In our example, you’ll see how to upload and activate a theme (purchased from themeforest for $59) in a few seconds.

You”ll learn in Part 3:

1. Download
2. FTP
3. Enable
4. Settings

Expansion of website, e-commerce & co. – part 4/5

What can you do with WordPress? Create your own blog for your ideas, a website for your company or clients, but you can also build a complete online store from WordPress with landing pages and multilingual content. This way you can present your idea to the whole world almost overnight. In this video I show you how easy you can expand your shop in terms of design and functions using Themeforest.net.

Your possibilities with WordPress as a basis

• Blog and magazine
• Corporate website
• Online shop or e-commerce
• Landing pages for campaigns
• Multilingual content
• …

Setting Home Page, Blog, Category and URL – Part 5/5

In this video, you’ll learn how the WordPress system basically works, with its essential (and most important) basic features. Pages, posts, categories and URLs are the first step in building websites and e-commerce. Here you’ll learn how to create and set up your home page, as well as your blog roll. After that, we’ll take a look together at your first categories and basic URL structure, permalinks.

In this video, you’ll learn:

• System fundamentals
• Why Page, why Post?
• Category
• URL

Writing SEO texts: Search engine optimization for Google, e-commerce & Co.

After the many learnings around WordPress, the system installation but also the setup, we now come to the first part of the SEO texts. The A&O for you, before you use software like Google Search, XOVI, etc., use your brain. Your planning, your “story”, your writing style shape every article. Visitors read the content and decide within seconds whether an article is convincing or not.

• Writing SEO texts

[shortcode variables slug=”adsense”]

WooCommerce, Agency tips

Have you ever heard of WooCommerce (plugin)? We as an agency can always recommend this wonderful plugin for WordPress to you. With WooCommerce you can make your online shop on a professional basis in no time. If you are wondering what makes WooCommerce different from other content management systems like Magento or Shopware, the question is easy to answer with the statement: Reduction of complexity. On the one hand, through the intelligent linking of WordPress and WooCommerce, you as an agency or company have the possibility to continue working in existing WordPress systems and expand them with an online shop. On the other hand, with a WooCommerce agency you have the opportunity to quickly and smartly achieve the perfect media presence.

WordPress online shop

Creating your own online shop with the content management system WordPress is not a difficult task in theory. What you have to pay attention to is the basic configuration to create a functional WordPress system for the online shop. In the following you install a plugin, which enables you to load products into your content management system quickly and easily. Through the years of work of many developers, many online shop possibilities have been created for the WordPress system, the most popular is probably the plugin Woocommerce. The online shop plugin allows you to build, manage and market an extensive online trade. Through the many flexible options of the CMS WordPress you always have the overview and can add many new functions and features if required. So you can manage your company website and your online shop with one system and one tool. You can specialize your employees and save a lot of time in the practical work. My recommendation for small companies and projects: Build your online shop with WordPress + Woocommerce.

Easy product management

In WooCommerce shops, you can manage your entire product management as well as control the stockkeeping. You have flexible possibilities to show and hide products, you can define different categorizations for your individual goods and products and even have an additional tool: You can offer digital products for download. These are then processed via payment providers such as Paypal or Klarna for credit card payment and voila. As an agency for WooCommerce online shops, we therefore also offer all-day workshops for your employees to familiarise them with the system.

Extensions and free plugins

With numerous extension possibilities and plugins you can constantly expand, optimize and improve the Woocommerce + WordPress Online Shop as described. Most of these features are free of charge and can be easily installed by media managers or an agency of your choice. In addition, there are further, very powerful plug-ins, which increase your reach and turnover enormously. You can’t go wrong with an online shop based on WordPress.

Magento or WooCommerce?

But important (!) plan your shop with an experienced agency. This later in the later workflow valuable hours and weeks of work. In addition, you will achieve fast top rankings in Google through sensible online shop SEO onpage measures. You also increase your potential through keyword analysis and link building. Insofar as your shop exceeds a certain level, you should also consider more comprehensive solutions such as Magento. There are also the right Magento Online Shop contact persons.

As easy as it sounds to use content management systems like WordPress, the linking of different bases is complicated. You work here in a complicated system that consists of various links, we use HTML, CSS, PHP, Java and SQL. In addition, there are special template properties, i.e. custom code snippets developed in your design. Therefore it is recommended to hire a media manager for success conscious enterprises and projects, who will set up an intelligent and smart WordPress online shop system, which allows fast results through many automations! Furthermore, you allow your employees an easy introduction to the shop system and you yourself an overview of your online shop project.

Questions about WordPress & Woocommerce Online Shop

If you are currently planning a new online shop, preparing a relaunch or looking for a shop with smart SEO onpage solutions, we are always looking forward to your call. We have proven in numerous projects how versatile, fast and efficient we create e-commerce systems according to customer requirements. Our references range from food online shops to jewelry and jeweler e-commerce retouch and shop systems. In questions of lifestyle products, fashion and style in corporate design, you can always rely on media systems from Lukinski.

Set up YouTube Studio: DIY under 1000 Euro!

No matter when, at any time, the studio is wide and with just one click on the power strip the lights, camera, microphone and you’re ready to record! Such an own YouTube room is already luxury. I have fulfilled this little luxury last year! Now I can record a video at any time, immediately. Such a room not only brings “old” ideas to the implementation but also completely new concepts and projects. This is how we came up with new projects and our e-learning platform. It was already worth it, so I wanted to take you with me and show you how such a “studio” looks like, how it is built up, which technology you need and how much it costs! Especially the price plays a role for many people when they start with YouTube. Of course it makes a big difference if you blog as a private person or, as in our case, if you need a small studio.

Tip! Social Media Software & Learn Online: The latest tools, the best software and new: Online Courses for Social Media Managers. Automation of postings, newsletter marketing and learn new strategies online! Now on my Social Media Agency: Social Media Tool.

Studio, camera, light, microphone, memory cards – do it yourself guide

Studio and space: minimum 8 qm, better 20 qm

For Youtuber your own bedroom is enough, but if you want to produce videos for companies or for e-learning platforms, you need a little more space than 8 square meters. For a reasonably large studio I would recommend at least 15 square meters of space, even better 20 square meters. On the one hand, in the studio the tripod is placed, on top of it the camera, 4 daylights and the cables and ideally also microphone and audio cables. But chairs as also a big mirror are not wrong. All this must be taken into account and in the ideal case a possible complete darkening of the room. Why? Because of this, a constantly equal light situation can be guaranteed by daylight and abduction of the room.

Camera: Youtuber Cam, digital camera, system camera or SLR?

As far as cameras are concerned, there are definitely several recommendations.

Vlogs on the road with handy Legria X

It does not have to be the most expensive camera! We produce ourselves with different cameras, depending on the situation. Follow me around videos of bloggers or influencers for YouTube we make with our Canon Legria X camera. It’s perfect for blocking on the go, as it has a small screen integrated and an extremely good wide-angle lens. However, the camera is hard to get nowadays as it is no longer produced by Canon. What a pity! Nevertheless there are still some offers like here (picture) on Amazon where there are still a few available. As you can see on the small, rotatable screen, this handy camera is especially suitable for “Follow me around” videos in Vlogs. But for other shots we also have a second camera, a little bigger, a compact camera. Both cameras are also used in the studio when all the bigger ones are on the road on productions.

Studio e.g. with Canon 700D and successor 750D (tip!)

My recommendation, however, would be a reflex camera, as well as from Canon or Sony. With it you have a good image quality but also a good video quality. My Canon is a 750D, it has an integrated and tiltable screen, so I can look at myself while shooting, but also use the touch display to control all important functions without having to go behind the camera. Also here a tip, you will often stand alone in front of the camera, especially with tutorial videos, so you can coordinate everything yourself without wasting too much time of staff, also the concentration is higher. The Canon 750D is my favourite camera compared to other cameras, because you can get it in almost every wholesale and electronics store but also in online shops. Furthermore, many friends can get along with this camera and you can also get quickly necessary additional parts as well as batteries or permanent batteries which we will get on in a moment. From the price performance my recommendation among the cameras for YouTube and simple video production.

Tripod: Better heavy than light for stability

For tripods in video production, the most important recommendation is that your tripod should not be one of the lightest but also sufficiently heavy. If your tripod is too light, the risk of vibrations is too high, as well as the risk of the camera tilting, e.g. when changing lenses. When choosing a tripod, you should therefore pay attention to a high-quality material processing. The center of gravity should be able to be stretched far up, the heavier the lens is, especially the perspective from eye level is often important for the conversation. If the camera is then turned to a height of 180 m, the lens has to have a correspondingly wide stand but also guarantee the necessary stability as well as a low center of gravity. Here you can find a stable camera tripod.

Battery: Second battery in stock

A battery is a battery. Those who want to produce a lot need several batteries in stock, therefore, it is of course always recommendable to buy some spare batteries in the online shop and a suitable charger. If the camera is continuously running, as it is the case in video productions, a lot of energy resources are consumed. For a three-hour production one should have at least four batteries in stock. But since we work in a studio, there is a 4 Ingenious other solution, a permanent battery with a charging cable!

Permanent battery: continuous operation by power cable and battery adapter

The absolute highlight and insider tip for your next video production! I constantly had to change my batteries myself, which is especially annoying because the lower part of the camera is always placed on the tripod. It has to be unscrewed every time to get to the actual battery. At some point I started looking for a permanent battery with a charging cable so that I can leave my camera permanently in operation. And indeed, there is one! Super easy to order, fast delivery and already 24/7 recording, when I want and if the memory card allows it!

How to use this permanent battery? The setup is super easy, the battery is constructed in the same way as a normal one, in the housing you can put the plug in and you have a small box that can be put directly into the camera. There, where the battery is normally located, there is now a small plastic box and from our camera comes a charging cable. We can now take it along our tripod and put it into the socket at the bottom. The camera is ready for use with the camera permanent battery 24/7.

Lens: Standard lenses are good enough!

Of course, the use of lenses is always debatable in professional circles! But for our video productions the city is enough. At that time I got a package for my credits with second, this one has been on camera for three years and gives me excellent results. So I can say that if you get a camera, the lenses on it are usually absolutely sufficient.

But what I – who likes it – can still recommend as an extension is a lens that allows you to take manual focus. What is the advantage? Let’s just think, you make a cereal product for Youtube and want it in the focus of the picture, while the rest is out of focus. Same goes for the moderator in the room – they are in focus, the rest is out of focus. Not every standard lens offers this manual, adjustable function. That’s why I added a high quality lens to my camera.

Microphone

There is already much more to say about the microphone for YouTube production. First of all, you always have the microphones integrated in the camera, these are absolutely sufficient but are not 100% recommended for recordings that are made inside rooms because of the sound. As a possible alternative there are always two good recommendations, on the one hand a directional microphone, but even better a clip-on microphone including transmitter.

Directional microphones

Directional microphones many people may know when watching TV productions. The microphone is mounted on a long rod and is always pointed at people. This captures the sound coming from a certain direction. But these microphones can also be switched to the whole sound of the environment. Both are good for productions outside of rooms, but difficult for our YouTube setting, because we don’t have a production team on location and no sound assistant to constantly reposition the microphone. Also, reverberation and sound waves are always captured by the room.

No matter if the microphone is focused or not, sound waves are permanently in the room and are refracted from everywhere. For perfect productions it is recommended to use a clip-on microphone. Matching with radio link. If there is more than one conversation partner on site, you should have a level meter to them. Let’s have a look at everything in detail.

Radio microphones or clip-on microphones have the clear advantage that they pick up the sound directly at the man. This makes the sound source much louder and sound waves much less significant. The sound is therefore clear and the voice is perfectly recorded without great interference effects. If you are recording as a single person, it is sufficient to have a single transmitter and receiver, like this one.

For two or more people in conversation, you should also get a receiver device where you can level the individual audio tracks. And then you get a single audio track in which all the different microphones are already levelled and thus have the ideal volume to work together.

But the single microphone for plugging in does not have to be expensive, here, it is enough to get a microphone for less than 10 €. There are different recommendations for this, one of them is this one.

Sound: foam covering opposite the speech source

Sound is one of the biggest enemies in video production, because once your set is recorded, it is difficult to re-sync it, which takes a lot of time. That’s why you should think about eliminating possible sound sources in advance. This can be changed by using a lapel microphone or by installing sound barriers or foam. This foam absorbs incoming sound waves and does not return them back into the room. Good insulation absorbs almost 90% of all panes. The sound insulation should always be aligned against the sound source so that the sound waves hit it directly and immediately. The sound insulation varies depending on the look and intensity. The more pointed and angular the foam is, the more it usually absorbs. Foam is therefore available in different thicknesses, from 1 cm up to 15 cm. For our productions it is sufficient to have a sound insulation at all at first, this increases the quality of each video and thus enhances the quality of each individual production. A very big added value in sound insulation.

Memory card: More is more! Large memory from the advantage

The one who likes to talk for a long time and thus ideally shoots several episodes or lessons or even shows in a single production series should get a sufficiently large memory card. With the current capacities in the area of HD film production companies, at least one memory card with 16 GB should be used. To avoid problems with storage space and capacity, it is advisable to buy a 64GB memory card, so that several productions can be collected on one SD card or, for example, additional screencasts can be made. Since the cost investment is not much higher for a memory card with more storage space, you should fall back on it. Instead of many small memory cards, because sometimes one can get lost, the data backup is a little easier, because it is more clearly arranged.

Continuous light: Softbox for nice light (min. 4 lamps)

Das Studio permanent light in a studio is very important, because depending on daylight cloudy or even sunshine, the lighting situation changes. Many don’t take this into account and have later cuts where it gets brighter or darker, which is very difficult to rework and only little to compensate, or the videos change their look with every new episode. To prevent this from happening, you should have a room that you can darken, for example with blinds. If you darken the room and use daylight lamps, the lighting situation and my mood is the same for every production. Furthermore, there are no disturbing shadows, e.g. with a single light source. Almost every room has such single light sources, because usually only one side is occupied by windows. To compensate for this, one uses daylight lamps that are positioned in such a way that one’s own shadows are no longer visible.

Daylight instead of dark rooms

The magic word is daylight lamps. Daylight lamps have a relatively bright light that comes from a central light, similar to the sun. If you build up 4 light sources, which fall on the speaking person from different angles, you switch off all shadows. Daylight lamps are relatively cheap and can be bought in a set for under 100 €.

Mirror: For styling, make-up and Co.

A little secret tip! Buy yourself a big mirror! In the end, looks always play a part, whether it’s at dinner, the first time you get to know each other or online tutorials. The more professional the video is made, the more you get to watch. In our YouTube studio there is a 2.20 m mirror, where you can see everything from your feet to your head, does your hairstyle fit, is there still something between your teeth or is your tie crooked? All these questions can be answered all the time, even if you are more emotional in the YouTube video and move more, you can always fix the look again.

Cables: audio, power, light and distributor

A good Youtuber studio includes not only the technical equipment but also the necessary cables to connect them together or to tap the power sources. I would always recommend to buy two distribution boxes with five sockets each and an on/off switch. If no video production is running, any technical equipment can be switched off with two clicks. When you start, you only have to click your foot two times and everything is running. To our power strip we need an audio jack cable, which we need to route the audio track from the microphone receiver or the recording device Wehdem Pegler to the camera. To avoid the cable from kinking or wearing out on the camera, you should buy a 90° angle, so that the cable can be led down cleanly.

Table: storage and trust option

The last important technical aid is a simple table. The table serves either as a notebook storage surface or as a storage area for texts and scripts. It is a small detail but it should be thought of! The table should always be space-saving but at least offer space for two DIN A4 pages next to each other. So you can easily turn the pages of scripts or even place a notebook.

Notebook: Important is a lot of RAM (HD editing)

Recommending a perfect notebook for video editing is of course relatively difficult, since there are extremely many providers. Make sure that you have enough memory and that it is a new notebook, processing power is very important for video production, because you work with HD video material and programs like Adobe Premiere need quite a lot of resources when you are in video editing. The more video tracks you create, e.g. text overlays, text fade-ins or webs, the more capacity your notebook needs. Therefore you should have at least 8GB of RAM and a fast processor. For the many pictures and video material you should buy a computer with a second hard disk with at least 100 GB of storage space. Create a clean folder, so that you can delete all projects immediately after the video editing.

Many keep their video material forever and buy hard disk and hard drive, nobody needs that! Put your video neatly in a folder and once the video is produced, delete the folder and the video editing project file.

I am currently working on a Acer Zenbook. But many friends also like to work with Apple MacBook.

Software: Adobe Premiere

Adobe Premiere is available today instead of in a large expensive package, in the smart monthly cloud version. Of course, there are many free video editing options available today, most computers already have their own small program but also all smartphones. Here you can already realize a lot! But if you want to produce professional videos and image films, you should use a professional software and Premiere. Obi Premiere is available in the cloud for just a few Euros per month and is therefore worth its weight in gold for every video production! With Adobe Premiere you can not only cut videos but also make all text insertions light corrections but also audio corrections. You can run the videos faster and slower to create slow motion effects but also export them to different networks like YouTube, Vimeo and Instagram or Facebook. Of course you can also use it in the classic HD forum or any other video output form.

Picture editing: Adobe Photoshop

For the appropriate image editing you can remember direct Photoshop, because no matter if it’s logos or graphics, e.g. statistics that are displayed or even pictures or screenshots, for all this you will need a software for image editing. Since we have already been at Adobe Premiere, I would add Adobe Photoshop directly to this package. Just like Photoshop is easy to learn and also in my video tutorials numerously represented! You can find more here in the Photoshop Tutorial.

Effects: Adobe AfterEffects or Cinema 4D *advanced

If you want to create special effects and 3D effects, you should also use Adobe After Effects. With Adobe After Effects you can create animations and effects. But here’s a little care, because Adobe After Effects is difficult to learn in comparison to Premiere and needs a lot of time until you understand the complex processes so that you can produce your own animations in a way that they are profitable, also from the time of implementation. For video editing, it is therefore sufficient to use free programs or, for more professional editing, Adobe Premiere.

Screencast: Record your own desktop

If you occasionally produce a screencast in which your own screen is recorded, there are numerous free programs available. If you only need one recording and no special cuts or features, here is a recommendation for recording your own desktop and screen:

• Ocam Download: Record screen – free of charge

Your very own YouTube studio

So you have your secret recipe for a perfect YouTube studio! For less than 1000 € you are guaranteed to have the perfect recordings! If you already own your own notebook and don’t have to invest extra, you’ll get a return of investment very quickly.

How many videos can you produce in one day?

In a single day you can easily produce and edit three or four videos completely finished. Because everything in the studio is relatively automated and you don’t have to worry about the technology, everything can be realized and produced very quickly. If you can talk relatively fast and freely, you will also have little editing work and can get to the export market relatively quickly. Production is extremely fun, once you have found the flow, you can really produce on the assembly line. Once you’ve found the flow, you can really produce on the assembly line. Once you’ve got the perfect layout for your own video in Adobe Premiere, so that the video, video intro and car are ready to go. Have fun building your own YouTube studio and good luck with your production! If you have any questions, just drop me a line in the comments.

Good luck!

WooCommerce – Variable products

We’We’ve also taken a look at the dashboard > WooCommerce and made a few settings regarding countries, languages, tax rates and payment methods. Now we want to go one step further and create products!

Creating products is relatively simple. In principle it works like any post or page you create in WordPress. Similar to keywords or categories in pages you create specific products with specific features. But first we will focus on the product categories:

Create categories

Categories are very useful and quickly explained: trousers, t-shirts, jackets, etc. In order that you do not present your customers with an unsorted online shop, we first define categories. In the example (screenshot) it is shorts and socks.

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Simple products

At the beginning the following points should be filled out as a rule absolutely:

• Product name

<Product description
<Product categories
<Product Keywords

• Contribution picture

In the second step we only get to the product data. In the tab ‘General’ you define article number and price. If you have already set everything in ‘Part 1: …’, information like VAT class is already set up.

You can of course specify further details in ‘stock’ or ‘shipping’. However, these are very individual, depending on the company, goods flow and business model. Under ‘linked products’ you can later add articles which are then additionally recommended under the product. After entering all data, we can ‘save’ our product (top right). A ‘preview’ is also already possible.

TIP! If you would like to add a purchase note for your customers to individual products, you will find a small missing text in the tab ‘extended’.

Product variants

Now it will be exciting! Our single product may be enough, but most of you will need a selection! In the example (screenshot) you can see our boxer shorts. We would like to offer them in three sizes and three colours. That’s why we turn a ‘simple product’ into a ‘variable product’.

Select variable product

Once you have selected ‘Varibale Product’, the appearance will change a little. For example, the input field for the price disappears! But that’s not too bad, because you now have variable products.

At this point comes the crux of the matter, where many get out, here begins the art of content management. Fortunately, with WordPress + WooCommerce we have a wonderful open source system that makes everything happen almost magically.

Create variations

First we determine the ‘properties’ that our variable product should have. For this purpose you click once on the tab ‘Properties’. There is no information in the new field, so you press ‘Add’. Now you determine what we will differentiate. In the example it is size (S, M and L). The individual values for size are shown on the right side of the field (screenshot). It is important that the variables are separated by the long vertical line | (Ctrl + Alt + <>-key). Also very important, as in the screenshot, make a check mark at “Visible on product page” and “Used for variations”.

With “Save properties” you confirm your entries.

Set variations

With the product properties formed, we can now set the variations. To do this, switch to the ‘Variations’ tab and link the variants with each other. To do this, you only have to press “Link all variations together”. A popup will appear and confirm this (you will link all variations). After that you will see a confirmation that all variations have been added.

Edit individual variations

Now WordPress + WooCommerce has automatically created all variations for you (next screenshot). In the last step you have to describe each variation individually. This is important for your shop, so you can say later that there are ten blue shirts, but only two red ones.

You now have an article which is available in three variations (in the example: size S, M and L). For every single variation we can (must) now indicate individual stock levels, prices (obligatory because of the variation) or also weight or measure data. Of course we can also provide individual product pictures (e.g. if the colour is different). We limit ourselves in the blog post to article number and price (screenshot).

All done? All gegeched? Then you can either view your product preview or publish your product directly. Of course you have the possibility to create further variations. So you can create a product and design it individually, by size, color, etc.

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Your online shop with WordPress + WooCommerce

The prerequisite for this is a basic technical understanding. But don’t worry, by clicking on the website you have already fulfilled 80%! With a little effort and a few hours time, anyone can set up their own online shop – free of charge, completely based on open source. It’s worth it. Because in the end, WordPress + WooCommerce is a stand-alone system for your individual needs as an entrepreneur.

Why? If you invest a little time, you will save a lot of time later. My recommendation:

A good cappuccino from your trusted cafe
approx. 2-3 hours Time

WordPress

Today it is all about making WordPress + WooCommerce functional in a short time. Once you have practised, you will only need a few minutes. But today we take a little time. The basis for our online shop is the content management system (CMS) WordPress. With it, content (e.g. texts or image media) can be managed relatively easily with just a little technical experience. At the same time WordPress also allows complex systems. WordPress can be extended. Like small apps for smartphones, there are plugins that enable new functions. One of these plugins is called WooCommerce.

WooCommerce

With WooCommerce, online shops can be implemented in a similarly simple and straightforward manner. In order to save the often expensive way to the agency, I will first introduce you today to the setup of WordPress and WooCommerce:

Installation

WordPress

The requirement for WooCommerce is WordPress. WordPress can be started easily, often already pre-installed by the provider. Alternatively, you can also create your own system at www.wordpress.com. For more experienced users, a separate installation (FTP/SQL) should be mandatory.

WordPress Download
WordPress Online at www.wordpress.com
Even with FTP/SQL try? The Elma Studios explain here how it works

WooCommerce

If WordPress is installed, only one plugin is missing, WooCommerce. The online shop plugin for WordPress. The easiest way is directly via ‘Dashboard > Plugins > Install’. The download is alternatively available as a link (below the screenshot)

WooCommerce Download

WooCommerce asks you to set up all pages in the dashboard after installation. Once you confirm, WooCommerce is fully installed. The plugin and all necessary pages (like ‘My account’, ‘Shopping cart’)

In front of you is a new, clean online store. Congratulations!

Set up WooCommerce

First settings

A few settings are essential for the operation of the system. You can find them in ‘Dashboard > WooCommerce > Settings’. In the ‘General’ tab you should definitely consider countries and currencies:

Germany
Sales locations
Currency
…

Value added tax

In the tab ‘VAT’ (if you do not fall under the small business regulation) the option field “Activate VAT” must be activated.

TIP! For a simple price calculation I also recommend a click on “Yes, I enter the product prices including VAT”. Why? So you can set your prices, for example 59.99 and WooCommerce will automatically calculate the net amount and the VAT. In the selection field “Show the price in the shop” you select “Inclusive VAT”. Otherwise all prices in the online shop will be without VAT.

After the ‘value added tax options’ we now go to ‘standard rates’. There you enter the standard rate, in Germany usually 19% VAT. In the screenshot you can see the most important settings, like country code, tax rate and tax name.

This is exactly what you can do for the ‘Reduced Rate Sets’. Here you can enter reduced rates into the online shop. For example 7% for most foods. Afterwards as always “Save changes”.

Payment and more

In the ‘Settings’ you will find many more options besides ‘General Settings’ and ‘VAT’ – which are a bit beyond the scope of the blog post. Click a little bit around, choose the relevant options. Everything is well described.

For example, you should take a look at the ‘Cash’ tab. At the bottom of the page you will find “Payment methods”. Here you can choose a standard method, a classic bank transfer or payment via Paypal.

Congratulations – you are ready to go!

Next week! Part 2: Managing products in WooCommerce

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